


And the bells were ringing out for Christmas day...

by ThreeMagpies



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Blackout AU, Eventual Smut, Gen, The President's Ball, charloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-08 16:27:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5504693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThreeMagpies/pseuds/ThreeMagpies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Revolution fic:  Bass Monroe/Charlie Matheson, Charloe; Blackout AU. It’s a few days before Christmas and President Blanchard of the Sovereign Nation of Texas is throwing a party to celebrate his inauguration. Miles and Bass have been invited along to accept their full and unconditional pardons, a couple of medals and honorary status as Texas Rangers. Rachel, Aaron and Priscilla are busy working out what the Nano are doing so Charlie is travelling with the two former generals from Willoughby to Austin - mostly to make sure they don’t get into trouble… </p>
<p>A present for Romeokijai as part of the  Good Ship Charloe VeryCharloeChristmas2015 fic exchange...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [romeokijai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeokijai/gifts).



> Author’s note:  
> Hi there and thanks so much for having a look at this. ☺ The story is part of the Good Ship VeryCharloeChristmas2015 fic exchange. Wishing you all the very, very best Romeokijai, and I hope you enjoy this little present, and that you and your loved ones enjoy a peaceful and happy holiday season :D xx Magpie
> 
> The title is from ‘Fairytale of New York’ by Shane McGowan and Jem Finer (The Pogues)
> 
> I don’t own any part of Revolution and am writing this purely for love of the show and its characters.

It was a few days before Christmas and the newly re-elected President Blanchard of the Sovereign Nation of Texas was throwing a party in Austin to celebrate his inauguration and the ongoing victories of the Allied Nations against the scattered Patriot remnants. Miles and Bass had been invited (well, ordered really) to go in person to accept full and unconditional pardons along with honorary status as Texas Rangers and a couple of medals each... Charlie was also in line for a medal although she had declined hers, with respect; there was no way she could accept a medal for shooting Jason, even if it had helped save Carver’s life… 

Rachel, Aaron and Priscilla were busy investigating the Nano stuff and were way too involved in that to go anywhere, which meant that Charlie got the job of babysitting the two former generals on the way to Austin and making sure they stayed out of trouble. She grinned, a bit of trouble might not be such a bad thing - things had been just a teeny bit on the boring side lately as far as she was concerned. A good bunfight and the chance to roll some patriots might take her mind off thinking about a certain person. And given that the certain person’s ungrateful son of a bitch son was still off flying in the wind, it might take his mind off his own worries too... 

So, here she was travelling with her uncle and Monroe, or her honorary Uncle Bass as he’d taken to calling himself just to piss her off, which it did, because the way she’d been thinking of Sebastian Monroe lately was a long, long way from avuncular; those intense blue eyes, wide, white toothed smile (when he wasn’t being all deep, blond and broody) and the tall, beautifully muscled body had appeared in so many of her dreams that she’d given up counting them.

She was pretty sure he had been dreaming about her too… There were the long, lingering looks, the way his eyes went all burning blue when they rested on her lips or skated over her breasts and butt. And then there was the way he watched her back and respected her skills… why just the other day he’d given her his last magazine so she could finish off a Patriot Cadet handler they found hiding in a barn outside of Willoughby… She grinned again; Bass Monroe knew exactly how to make a girl feel warm and tingly…

Anyway, he and Miles had spent the last hour or so trying to outdo each other in telling gory war stories and comparing battle scars, although after Mexico and Casa Nunez, Monroe was indisputably in the lead in the scars department… She sighed, that didn’t make any difference at all to her subconscious; it still thought he was the sexiest thing since, well since she started thinking about things like that. 

She couldn’t pin down just exactly when he’d gone from being Monroe to being Bass, or when she’d started seeing him as a really, really attractive guy instead of, well, Monroe. But somewhere along the way she had. She hadn’t done anything about it – not yet, nor had he, but every time they were near each other it felt like the air crackled and sparked with tension, like the air before a really big storm…

Then as though he heard her thinking about him, which she somehow could totally believe, he turned and looked at her, his eyes a bright, wicked, crystal blue against the tanned skin of his face; his body sitting sinfully loose and easy in the saddle and a little smile playing around his mouth…

She felt a shiver of excitement run down her spine that set her clit throbbing and she circled her hips against the low pommel, trying to get some relief… her tongue darting out, moistening her lips as a small gasp escaped…

He noticed… of course he did, and the heat in his eyes sent another bolt searing down to her belly…

Shit… she narrowed her eyes at him, ignoring his spreading, knowing smile; then kicked her horse forward to join Miles who was on point…

Miles turned to her and grinned, oblivious to the hormonal undercurrents happening around him... ’So then I shot the guy, the bullet went right through him, ricocheted back off the wall and creased my ear’ the grin turned into a chuckle… ‘Bass thought I’d bought it and shot the guy again, even though he was already dead…’

Charlie had a moment of total confusion because she had no idea what he was talking about, ‘Oh… that’s… good?’ 

A dark eyebrow went up…’Yeah…’ He looked her over, ‘are you ok? You look a bit flushed…’ 

She grinned back and shrugged, carefully avoiding the blue eyes twinkling at her behind Miles’ back… ‘Yeah, I’m fine, I was just thinking we’d better get a move on if we want to make Austin on schedule’.

He huffed and kicked his horse into a canter. ‘Ok, ok, but Blanchard had better have a few bottles of his good whisky waiting for us, just saying…’

………………………………………..

A few hours later in a lull between stories, the wind started to turn cold and dark storm clouds gathered like spreading green and purple bruises on the horizon...

Miles looked at the sky, the clouds were rapidly getting darker, roiling towards them in ominous waves from the horizon and he reached up a hand to button his coat against the cold… ‘I’m pretty sure that lot’s a whole lot closer than it was a few minutes ago…’

Bass kept his big, skittish bay firmly in hand ‘you think?’

Charlie was having trouble keeping her mare from bolting as the wind suddenly picked up, whistling and moaning around them in a flurrying swirl of leaves and small stones. The horse was snorting and stamping, eyes wide and white rimmed. ’I don’t think we can ride this one out, maybe we can find some shelter over there?’ She pointed with an elbow, both hands busy with the reins… 

They were coming up to a crossroads, a stretch of forest filling the view in front and to their right, and to the left what appeared to be a small town a couple of miles off down the road, a white church spire rising against the sky. A fallen signpost shot too full of holes to read lay at the junction, pointing vaguely at the sky.

Miles turned towards the town ‘Sounds like a plan.’ He kicked his horse into a canter. ‘Let’s go to town.’

………………………………………

The place looked deserted as they rode in just ahead of the storm, the ripped and ragged awnings over the main street’s dusty shop fronts flapping in the growing wind and tumbleweeds rolling down the cracked bitumen, gathering in fragile tangled piles against the sides of buildings. 

Charlie looked around for somewhere they could shelter inside with the horses. ’What about the church?’

Bass circled round, the wind catching his jacket and belling it out. ’Looks like as good a place as any, and we could take the horses inside...’

Miles nodded and shrugged, ‘Can’t see anybody hanging around to say we’re not allowed.’

They hurried towards the once elegantly white painted stone building in the centre of town, its entrance tower still standing and the spire with the cross at the top still proud although there were gaping holes and missing tiles on the sloping roof. A good number of the stained glass windows were broken too and the churchyard garden behind the drystone wall was overgrown and littered with rubbish blown in by the wind… 

As they clattered through the fallen lych gate and onto the wide crushed stone path leading up to the big arched wooden doors, one of the doors opened and a small, female figure dressed in faded fatigues emerged, silhouetted against the dark of the interior and side-lit by a shaft of sunlight that flashed down through a gap in the clouds, a rifle held at the ready and pointed towards them. ‘Stop right there or I’ll shoot,’ then the voice tailed off and the dark eyes widened in shock.

All three of them pulled their horses to a halt.

Bass already had his pistol aimed and steady ‘you see anyone else, Miles?’.

Miles was checking the area around them, then he turned back, ‘Nah…looks clear to me,’ then his eyes went to the door… 

Charlie frowned, there was something very familiar about the woman but she couldn’t quite place it… and then she saw Miles’ face out of the corner of her eye and turned to stare…

He was looking suddenly older; the lines around his mouth harsh and his eyes haunted, a slow breath hissing out between his lips, ‘Mia…’

Charlie had another look at the woman; she was young, very pretty, dark haired, coffee skin and her sister’s eyes, dark, lovely. Shit. The last time they’d seen Mia, she’d turned them into the Militia, to Strausser.

Then another figure, slim, in faded tank and low slung cargo pants walked slowly out to stand beside Mia, the barrel of a gun glinting in the stormy light, the wind ruffling the strands of dark hair escaping an untidy bunch at the nape of her neck…

‘What the fuck?’ Bass’ finger tightened on the trigger, a reflex…

Miles shot out a hand, grabbing the barrel, his face white under the tan, ‘Bass, no’

Charlie stared, not believing, ‘Nora?’

…………………………………………


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note:  
> Hi there and thanks so much for having a look at this… ☺ The story is a gift for Romeokijai as part of the Good Ship VeryCharloeChristmas2015 fic exchange. The story ran off with me a bit and took off in some unexpected directions, but that’s what happens sometimes isn’t it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy :D

‘How did you find us?’ Mia’s voice was a sharp, harsh cry rising above the wind, her gun aimed at a point between Miles and Charlie.

Nora’s rifle stayed steady on Bass, her eyes narrowed, angry.

Bass had lowered his gun and was sitting very still, his face calm, eyes looking somehow far into the distance, his other hand keeping his increasingly nervous horse steady… 

Miles was still staring at Nora, his tongue darting out over his lips, his breath coming fast and ragged… He held his hands up, his bay dancing a little under him… ‘We didn’t know you were here, Mia, believe me’

She choked off a laugh, ‘You left Nora for dead, and he’ she tipped her head towards Bass…’He had her tortured for days.’ The click of her safety going off sounded very loud, ‘why the fuck should we believe a single, fucking, lying word you say?’

Charlie was barely aware of the sky growing darker above them, the wind getting stronger; she was looking at Nora, the tears in her eyes making everything hazy, cloudy… She blinked them away, her mind flashing to her mother leaving them, taking Aaron with her even though Charlie had begged her to stay and help save Nora, then the door closing, leaving them alone… Then Miles somehow finding them, promising Nora that he wasn’t going to leave her and then the desperate race to get to the infirmary in the Tower, Miles with Nora lying so limp and hurt in his arms, gazing up at him with so much love and trust in her eyes that Charlie couldn’t bear to think that she might not make it, because Nora loved him so much… 

Then, somewhere along the way, the awful, horrible realization that it was too late, that Nora hadn’t made it, and Miles crying over her, and Charlie had never seen him cry like that before, not even when they thought Bass was dead… ‘We thought Nora was…’ she swallowed… ‘We thought she was dead…’

Nora flicked her eyes towards Charlie although her gun stayed trained on Bass, and when Charlie saw the depth of emotion in those dark eyes; the hurt, anger and a deep, deep sadness, her breath caught in her throat… ‘Nora, I’m so sorry….’

Miles dismounted and he walked forward, his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender, going far enough that he was a shield for Charlie and Bass…‘This is on me, Mia, it’s my fault, not Bass, not Charlie…’

Mia stared at him, ‘I saw the three of you in the corridor, I was hiding behind one of the pillars… you put Nora down on the ground and the two of you just walked off and left her lying there....’ 

She speared a hot glance around Miles to Bass ‘I’d gone to Colorado with Monroe’s troops, I figured that you and Nora’d be somewhere around too, trying to stop him doing whatever he was planning to do there…’ Her lips twisted in a sneer, ‘I didn’t know what he’d done to Nora then or I would have found a way to kill him there…’ 

Her glaring eyes turned back to Miles… ‘Then I saw the two of you fighting in the woods and after that I saw you just… let… him… go.’ She sneered again, ‘friends forever, huh?‘ She took a deep breath, ‘then I followed you inside that place and saw you and her’ she tipped her head towards Charlie…’You were carrying Nora, and then you just stopped, and you put her down on the ground…’ She took a step forward, her eyes accusing…’You left her to die, Miles Matheson, and then when everything went crazy with the green lights and the weird shit I got her out of there… I did it, I saved her… me…because you left her behind…’

There was silence for a moment, the bitter words hanging in the air as though they had weight of their own…

Then Nora stepped forward, ‘Miles?’

Miles stood hunched over, his head down; then he looked up at her, meeting her eyes, his full of naked, raw emotion…‘Yeah?’

‘Did you really believe I was dead?’

He nodded, ‘yeah…’

She let out a breath, ‘and Monroe… why?’

‘Things…changed, after the bombs?’ he shrugged, ‘and when the patriots surfaced, we sort of ended up back together.’ He took a step towards her, ’he’s changed, Nora, he’s been trying to make up for what happened before, he helped bring Davis down, he’s helped us fight them…’ He took another step forwards, ‘that’s why we’re here; we’ve been invited to Austin by President Blanchard’ he looked her in the eyes, willing her to understand, ‘we’re working for Blanchard now, for Texas and the Allied Nations, they’re making us honorary Texas fucking Rangers for crying out loud…’

Mia was staring at the two of them, chewing her lip, her eyes as stormy as the sky above them…‘I don’t believe it, Nora, I don’t fucking believe it…’ she lifted her gun and pointed it straight at Miles…’He’s here for five fucking minutes, gives you a pile of candy coated crap and already you’re forgiving him for everything, just like you always do…’ She hissed…’but not this time, not this time…’ her finger tightened on the trigger… 

Shit…Charlie threw herself off her horse and ran towards Miles, Bass a moment in front of her. Then there was a confusion of shots, screams and yelling… and then silence, except for the wind and the clatter of hooves on the path as the horses scattered, startled…

………………………………………….

Miles was ok… 

For a moment there that was all Charlie could think about, all she could see. Then she felt Bass behind her, his body warm and strong; solid, comforting. She leaned back against him, needing the contact, needing… him; needing to know he was alive too…. And she felt his heart pounding as fast as hers.

‘It’s alright, Charlie, he’s alright, it’s ok, he’s alright…’ Bass was repeating over and over into her ear, almost as though he was reassuring himself too…

Nora was kneeling on the ground crying, her eyes stricken, empty... Mia’s head and shoulders were cradled in her lap, the lovely dark eyes staring into space unfocused, unseeing, the full lips slack and a line of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. A pool of blood spreading glistening and bright red over the ground beneath her body…

Miles was crouched behind Nora, one arm round her, the other gently taking the still smoking gun from her hand. 

She let him do it, her hand reaching down to stroke Mia’s hair… 

He looked up at Charlie, then at Bass… ‘You two go on ahead to Austin, explain things to Blanchard, tell him we’ll be along as soon as we can. I’m going to stay with Nora, help her…’ he took a deep breath…’help her organise things…’

Charlie shook her head, ‘No, no way, we’ll stay too…’

Bass stepped closer, although he kept a hand on Charlie’s arm… ‘Are you sure about this, Miles?’

Miles met his eyes, his steady, certain ‘Yeah, I’m sure, I…I need to do this…’ He looked at Charlie then back to Bass, ‘you take care of Charlie, ok?’ 

Bass nodded, his own gaze calm and sure…‘You know I will.’ 

Something, a sort of understanding, passed between the two men, and Charlie realized that maybe Miles knew a lot more about what had been happening between her and Bass than he’d been letting on…

Then Nora’s head fell back against Miles’ shoulder and she took a deep breath, letting it out in a shuddering sigh. ‘She really meant to kill you, Miles, and I couldn’t let her do that, I couldn’t…’ 

He lifted a hand to brush a strand of dark hair away from her eyes and behind her ear; his fingers gentle, careful… ‘I’m so sorry, Nora, I’ll help you look after her, and I won’t leave you, not again, I promise…’

………………………………………..

Luckily the horses hadn’t gone far, they’d found some good grazing behind the church and all three of them were there. Bass rounded them up and led Miles’ bay gelding into the shelter of an old toilet block, stowing Miles’ gear inside the church and leaving him an extra share of their food and whiskey.

The storm had circled away for the time being, the clouds clearing a little and although none of them thought the rain would hold off for long it looked like there’d be time to bury Mia. Bass had even found a gravesite already prepared but never used over in a corner of the Churchyard, and he helped Miles carry Mia over to it, wrapped in a blanket… 

Charlie had found some winter roses under the trees, so she gathered a bunch of them and took them to Nora where she stood at the graveside… 

‘Thank you, Charlie… ‘ Nora carefully put the flowers on the ground at her feet and pulled Charlie into a hug…

Charlie felt the warm, strong and so vibrantly alive body in her arms and felt a rush of happiness that somehow, somehow Nora had survived… ‘I’m so glad you’re alive and that we found you,’ and she breathed in the achingly familiar mix of clean spicy sweat and gunpowder that always seemed to linger around Nora, ‘I’m so sorry about Mia…’

Nora took a deep breath… ‘Yeah, me too, but something like this would have happened sooner or later, it was inevitable I think…’ She gently pulled away and looked down at the grave, ‘Mia was angry all the time, at everything and everyone, and she was getting worse.’ Her eyes filled, a tear falling down the smooth cheek. ‘We had to keep moving because she’d pick fights with everyone and anyone we met, over little things or nothing at all, and then she killed a couple of guys in the last town we stayed in just because they talked to me in the bar…’ She sighed, ‘that’s why we were hiding out here, we only just made it out of the last town alive, and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one bounty out on us by now…’

Charlie stared at her, seeing the lines of strain around Nora’s eyes and mouth for the first time… ‘We’ll get Blanchard to sort it out if there is, ok?’

Nora’s full lips curved a little…’That’s right, I forgot, you’re all legit now’

Charlie nodded, her own lips twitching, ‘yeah… although I must admit that not being a rebel is taking a bit of getting used to.’

Miles arrived, a shovel in his hands…’I found this in the toolshed out back…’ He looked at Charlie, his eyes warm, grateful… ’Are you guys ready to go?’

She nodded again, ‘Bass is just getting the horses organised…’ Bass was staying away from Nora as much as he could, and Charlie was trying to think of ways to sort that one out, because she was pretty damn sure that now that he’d found her, Miles wasn’t going to let Nora out of his sight for the foreseeable future.

She didn’t know what her mom would make of it and was almost surprised to find she didn’t care; her mom and Miles had had a thing, that had been obvious, but whatever it was it had started to fade, Charlie was sure of it… Miles had been spending more and more time with her and Bass lately hunting patriots, while her mom spent almost all of her time with Aaron and Priscilla and the other scientific types who’d started turning up in Willoughby once things started to settle down… 

Nora seemed to bring out something in Miles that was real, genuine, caring.... she was good for him where with her mom there was always tension, a tight feeling, like something bad was about to happen… 

Miles put the shovel down and pulled her into a hug, then leant down to whisper in her ear… ‘Thanks for understanding, kiddo,’

She squeezed, her arms tight around his waist, burying her nose in the layers of fabric and leather over his chest, enjoying the feel of him, the tall strength, the scent of whiskey and male sweat… ‘You two be careful, ok?’ she looked up at him, the stubble on his cheek catching her hair, ’I want to have a dance with you at Blanchard’s party.’ She felt his chuckle rumble in the chest beneath her cheek…

’If you’d ever seen me dance, you wouldn’t be saying that…’ he looked down at her, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth, ‘but don’t worry, we’ll be there…’ He pulled back ‘you two take care as well – and don’t let Bass do anything stupid either, ok?’ His eyes darkened as he thought of something else… ‘So that means you don’t try to take on every patriot deserter you come across and if there are more than ten of them, you leave them alone, tell them about it in Austin and let them take care of it…’ he huffed out a breath and leaned towards her… ‘And if you see anything that even looks like it comes from a fucking war clan you take Bass and ride the other way…’ 

Nora did a little eye roll…

Charlie grinned, her dimple flashing… ‘Miles... we’ll be ok, Austin is only a few hours ride away so what trouble do you think we can get into between here and there?’ She chuckled at the look on his face then took pity on him, ‘we’ll be careful, Miles, I promise, and I promise I’ll look after Bass too, ok?’

He huffed then bent down to pick up the shovel, ‘we’ll see you both there then.’ He stood back up, ‘oh, and Charlie?’

She’d headed off but turned back…’Yeah?’

‘Don’t wear him out, ok?’ he grinned, his eyes twinkling…’He’s a fair bit older than you…’ he shrugged, ‘and parts of him aren’t quite as… resilient… as they used to be…’

She stared at him, her mouth dropping open, a blush starting around her nose and spreading out until she was sure her face was shining like a beacon; and she couldn’t think of one single thing to say…

Nora was very carefully looking at the ground, although Charlie was pretty sure that she could see her lips twitching just a little…

Charlie swallowed, pulling a bright smile out from under her hat… ‘See you in Austin…’

…………………………………

 

They’d been riding for about an hour and a half when the weather closed in again, and this time it wasn’t joking… 

Bass had spotted a barn off the road a little way and they’d pushed the horses to get there ahead of the rain, making it in through the big double doors just as the rain started pounding down behind them in thick streams, the wind roaring through in their ears, their fingers and faces numb with cold and the clouds settling down over the landscape in a cold, thick tide that made the surrounding fields and trees disappear into a dark, shadowy twilight....

Bass jumped down, flung his reins to Charlie and ran to slide the doors shut, the heavy wood and steel structures moving slowly at first, then faster, sliding screeching across their runners…

Then, it was suddenly dark and quiet compared to outside although the wind and the rain were a constant rumble outside. A few shafts of dim light let them see what they were doing once their eyes had adjusted and from a few, luckily small gaps in the tin roof, there was the steady sound of water dripping in rivulets all the way to the floor, and all around them was the rustle of small feet as rats, mice, insects and whatever else called the barn home ran for shelter from the intruders as well as the rain…

Charlie swung down from her saddle and led the two horses over to a stall set in to the side of the barn, and between them, she and Bass had the horses unsaddled, rubbed down and comfortable in a few minutes…

Which was more than Charlie could say for herself… She was alone with Bass Monroe, totally and completely alone with Bass Monroe… 

She’d been alone with him before of course, on the road from New Vegas the first time, after he saved her life in Pottsboro, and there had been other times when they’d been paired on patrol or during a job… but it had been different then, there had always been someone trying to kill them, or they were killing other people or she’d been wanting to kill him… This was different, this felt…different…

She turned to face him.

He was standing there, watching her, waiting… his eyes a little wary, his lips slightly open and his weight balanced evenly – as though he were getting ready to run, or fight…

She felt tension like a wire curling along her spine and anger rose like a sharp blade into her throat… ‘So what was that, Bass? Back there at the Church?’ She moved closer, her steps fluid, graceful, like a predator… You were just fucking sitting there, almost begging Nora to shoot you…’

His lips tightened and his eyes blazed at her, ‘Why not, after the things I did to her? I figured I owed her a free one...’

‘So what about me… Uncle Bass?’ Charlie got up close to him, her eyes furious; her lips tight, fury sparking from her eyes… ‘What about what you owe me?’ 

For a moment he was back on the road outside of New Vegas, when she challenged him to shoot her, and he felt the same frustration, the same urge to take her in his arms and fuck her from here to daylight, the same need to do…fucking…something…. His hands closed into fists, but he held himself back with a huge effort and hauled in some air…‘What do I owe you?’ 

‘You save my life, and I save yours’ She was breathing in harsh gasps, her breasts heaving…’that’s what we do…’

She was so close he could feel the heat from her body, feel her breath hot on his face… smell her arousal… His cock thickened as blood raced south like it was in a race…

Charlie reached up and pushed at his chest with both hands…

He staggered but kept his feet… ‘Charlie…’

She pushed her face into his, her voice strained…’and the last time I checked…Uncle Bass’ she reached up and slid her hands up each side of his face, her fingers weaving through his scruff and the curls at the back of his neck… ‘It was your turn to save me…’ her eyes were so close to his he could see the tears as they welled up and spilled over…

Somehow his hands were around her and he was pulling her closer… ‘Charlie, I….’

‘I haven’t finished yet…’ She pulled his head down towards hers, although he was going willingly, their breath mingling and rising like steam into the cold air… 

Bass set his feet square on the dirty concrete floor so they both didn’t fall over because she was pressed up against him now, her body leaning in tight against his, her breasts soft but her nipples hard and tempting and that damn chain belt of hers digging into his crotch like a fucking cock ring…

She stopped moving…‘So don’t you ever think about giving your life away, Bass Monroe…’ her lips were tiny moments away, her eyes boring into his…’Because it’s not yours to give, it’s mine, do you understand?’

He laughed, deep in his throat, but there was something reckless, desperate about the sound and his eyes were so intensely blue, so deep and full that it almost hurt her to look at them…’It’s always been yours, Charlie, ever since you woke up in that damn pool in New Vegas, maybe even before that, I just wasn’t sure that you wanted it…’

Charlie stared up at him…’but you knew that I... that I wanted you…’

He smiled down at her, his eyes gleaming as they caught a shaft of light from a hole in the roof…’Like you said, Charlie, we’ve fought together, saved each other so many times, it was only natural that we would be attracted to each other…’ he shrugged…’Fight or fuck, and sometimes it’s fight and fuck…’ His eyes narrowed, ’because flight doesn’t come into it for people like us, Charlie.’ 

He pulled her in closer, his lips so close to hers that she could feel her skin yearning for them to touch… 

‘But I needed to know that it was more than that…’ This time he spoke against her lips, his breath whispering over her cheeks, his lips softly stroking hers… then his hands slid underneath her jacket, her tank, his thumbs slipping under her bra, finding her nipples and circling them, the rough skin of his hands sending little ripples of sensation straight to her belly…’And now I do…’

Suddenly he was kissing her and then she was in the air as he lifted her up and swung her round so that she was up against a wooden screen and she gasped into his mouth…

He laughed again…‘Now I do…’

And then his hands were everywhere, her pants undone in a quick movement of fingers, her belt falling to the ground in a jingle of metal rings, one of his hands pulling her jeans down her legs, a grunt of impatience escaping into her mouth from him, and then both hands lifted her up again so that he could slide her down onto his waiting cock, and she gasped again as she felt the thick shaft spreading her out, her pussy so wet that he just slid into her, or she slid onto him, she didn’t care which way it was because it felt so fucking good, and she spread her knees out even wider to take him in because her feet were held together by her jeans, her knees bent, her shins pressing into his thighs as she used them to lift herself off so she could plunge back onto him again…

Then there was nothing else but him, Bass, all around her, his hands, his lips, his cock deep inside her, sliding in then out, again and again, his cock so hard and thick it felt as though he was filling her to the max, his arms lifting her up again to give him more access, his strength keeping her airborne, the wall behind them creaking… 

And then she was flying, higher and higher until she was screaming his name, and then laughing as she saw startled pigeons take flight from the ceiling joists above their heads, the birds wheeling under the high, peaked roof like a whirlwind of wings…

……………………………..

Afterwards, they stumbled across to their packs, spread their bedrolls out and collapsed onto them, still gasping for breath…

When she could move again, Charlie rolled over so she could see his face and ran a hand up through the soft scruff, her thumb stroking his lips… ‘Miles said I shouldn’t wear you out…’

‘He said what?’ blue eyes met hers, incredulous….

She chuckled…’ He said you were getting older and that parts of you weren’t as resilient as they used to be…’

Bass choked on laugh that was almost a growl, then he turned towards her, his hard and very resilient cock resting against her thigh. He trailed his hand over her belly and down to her pussy lips, his middle finger sliding down over her clit, rubbing in little circles…

Charlie sucked in a breath, her belly tightening…

He leaned over, his lips closing in on hers, his knee edging hers apart…‘Miles is full of crap…’

………………………………..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi, and thanks so much for reading, I hope you liked this Romeokijai ☺ your third prompt is coming in the next chapter lol!


	3. Finis...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note:  
> Hi there and thanks so much for having a look at this, I hope you enjoy it… ☺ The story is a gift for Romeokijai as part of the Good Ship VeryCharloeChristmas2015 fic exchange and this is the final part!! :D

‘Damn it, Bass’ Charlie stood at the door of the barn and stared at the half dozen roughly dressed men and women bristling with weapons, nasty grins and bad teeth heading their way. She reached for an arrow, set her bow then unclipped her knives, ‘I told Miles we wouldn’t get into trouble…’

He chuckled although his eyes were hard. ‘Shouldn’t have said that, it’s bad luck…’ He pulled his swords out, swinging them round to loosen his wrists, the blades swishing through the air, and a couple of the oncoming idiots swung their own, letting out what they must have thought were war whoops but that sounded more like pigs grunting… Bass started planning his moves.

It was lucky they’d spotted the intruders, they’d only just gotten dressed after the fourth or fifth round, although Charlie wasn’t quite sure if the third time counted as it hadn’t involved actual fucking… She licked her lips, still tasting him there; and grinned, feeling very, very pleasantly buzzed despite the interruption. 

And yeah, Miles was totally full of crap because Bass wasn’t worn out at all… in fact they’d been about to go back inside because the storm was circling back towards them when they’d spotted the escapees from what looked like a down on it’s luck war clan coming stumbling out of the woods, presumably looking for shelter in the barn too. 

Unfortunately for them, Charlie didn’t feel like sharing Bass, or the barn, with anyone else… She studied the oncoming horde, ‘Guns or hand to hand? And d’you want north or south, Bass?’

Bass grinned, his teeth very white in the stormy air… ‘Hand to hand, lets save the bullets for a real emergency, and I’ll take north, the guy at the front looks like Ed Truman and I can’t wait to have a go at him…’ the grin widened, ‘you take naked guy and the scary sisters.’

She grinned back, an eyebrow lifting…‘Really? You’re giving me a naked guy? That’s so sweet’

He chuckled, ‘no problem, a naked guy is gonna be more worried about protecting his nuts and bolts than where his knife is going.’

Charlie looked at the guy, they were getting closer now and she could see the man’s nuts bouncing in the breeze as he ran and a large erection swaying from side to side like a dirty finger waggling at the sky… ‘His bolt looks pretty happy to me, Bass.’

Bass swung his swords round again, ‘happy bolt, no brains…’

She smirked…’That’s something to remember…’ She aimed and let fly; one of the scary sisters shrieked and dropped to the ground and the other five clans people let out a sort of collective shriek and ran faster towards them.

Then there was no more time to talk, because there were smelly, screaming, greasy bodies all round them and it was slicing and dicing, rocking and rolling.

Bass fricaseed his way through the Ed Truman lookalike, a wide grin of satisfaction flashing… then with a combination upswing and sideswipe he took out the two men crowding up behind fallen Ed before turning round to see if Charlie needed any help.

Charlie was going hand to hand with the remaining scary sister while trying to avoid being grabbed by naked guy who was definitely under the influence of something because he kept trying to rub himself on her rather than kill her which was almost worse, because he smelled really, really bad of…well, something really, really bad… She was busy avoiding one groping hand and what looked like a knife coated in tar while she finished off the shrieking woman, when she saw Bass came up behind smelly guy, catch him round the neck with one arm and stick a sword up under his ribs with the other.

His lips twisting in disgust as the dead man slid down to the ground, Bass stepped back quickly to avoid touching the body more than he had to. Then he sniffed the arm that had been round the dirty neck… ’Damn, that’s disgusting, I don’t think this guy knew what a bath was…’

Charlie was leaning on her knees, panting and looked up at Bass, her eyes laughing… ‘At least you only touched his neck, I was way, way too close to his nuts and bolts…’ she shuddered, brushed some dirt off her thighs and stood up. ‘Next time you get the naked guy, ok?’

There was the sound of rapid hoof beats coming towards them and they turned together to see a bay horse coming at breakneck speed and nearly at the barn, Miles and Nora riding double on its back. The sweating horse streaked to a mud splattering halt in front of them and Miles swung down, pulling his rifle from the saddle mount, a scowl creasing his brow as he glared at them… ‘Find some cover you morons, we’ve got incoming.’

Nora slid down after him, her rifle slung over one shoulder and catching the reins with her spare hand, she pulled the horse inside the barn, her eyes meeting Charlie’s with a flash of deep brown irony....

Charlie looked towards the woods. There were a bunch more of the barely dressed clans people coming towards them at a flat run from out of the shelter of the trees, brandishing swords, axes, sticks, even a few bows, although thankfully few seemed to have guns, ‘Shit…’ She checked her weapons, she was really low on bullets… and looked for the best and nearest cover…

Bass lifted an eyebrow as he pulled a shotgun out of the saddlebag draped over his shoulder, heaved the bag behind the open barn door and ran to join Charlie. ‘Could have let us know you were bringing friends, Miles’ 

Miles grinned, slicking a new magazine into his gun, ‘didn’t want to spoil the surprise…’ He studied the oncoming runners, ‘so what do you think, Newark or Lancaster?’

‘Lancaster’ll do it I reckon…’

Miles nodded ‘Ok, I’ll go, you stay and be mother…’ then he headed off in a fast crouching run towards the back of the barn…

Bass glanced at Charlie, his eyes blazing hot blue and so, so alive…

She returned his gaze, her belly tight and her clit pulsing….’so…later then?’

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers, ’Hell yeah….’

She grinned… she knew the plan; they’d done Lancaster a couple of times before. Miles would be coming round from behind the barn and their unwelcome guests wouldn’t know he was there until it was too late…

Nora came back, rifle in hand and took cover behind the carcase of an old tractor. She slanted a glance back to Charlie, her eyes sliding over Bass, shoulders lifting in a shrug, her voice wry. ‘Feels almost like old times, doesn’t it?’ then she turned, took aim and fired into the advancing mob…

One of the figures fell; the others kept coming, Nora aimed again, dropping another, then another…

Bass took cover behind a pile of old tires, dropped another two with a couple of well-placed shots then paused to change magazines…

Charlie joined Bass behind the tires, aiming but waiting till she had a sure shot with her smaller gauge weapon, then as soon as she could she fired, dropping a heavily tattooed woman, then fired again, winging a grey bearded man carrying a sabre. He dropped too, his sword arm broken; she got a couple more decent hits then put her gun down, out of ammo…

By the time the remnants of the mob got within range of her bow, Miles had got into position and was methodically picking off their attackers from behind a couple of water barrels… and then there were only a few attackers left.

Charlie let one more arrow fly at another target then out of the corner of her eye she saw Bass fighting hand to hand against two men, his swords flashing like scythes, one of the men falling and then suddenly, somehow, Bass lost his footing and was on the ground on a pile of fallen clansmen, a leg twisted underneath him and his belly and throat vulnerable, the remaining attacker slicing downwards towards him with his machete. 

She gasped, swinging round to help, watching Bass struggle to get up, knowing she was going to be way, way too fucking late. 

She caught his eyes and for a moment saw a desperate regret, a love and passion that seared through her like one of his swords. She leaped towards him; her lips open in a scream of denial…

Then, the clansman’s head burst open like a split melon and he swayed in place for a long, long moment, before dropping like a stone, machete falling from a lifeless hand to the ground, the blade clattering and splashing into a puddle, drops of water flying up in a slow, surreal dance with the rain falling down…

Charlie turned…

Nora lowered her rifle, her eyes full of so many things that Charlie couldn’t begin to count them…

Charlie looked at her, heart pounding and tears filling her eyes along with the rain that had just started falling. He was alive. Nora had saved him; she’d saved Bass, after everything that had happened…

Bass had found his feet, his eyes on Nora too… He stood there, breathing hard, for a long moment, his face full of a mixture of anguish and a deep, deep gratitude; his shoulders slumped and his swords hanging loose from his hands…

Nora took a deep breath, then let it out… ‘Its Christmas; a new year, time to start over, ok?’

Miles finished off the last attacker and came over, wiping sweat and rain from his forehead with the back of his arm, his sword dripping blood and rainwater… He looked from Bass to Nora then Charlie, ‘is everything alright, guys?’

Nora nodded…’Yeah…’ She reached out for him, her free arm going around his waist and her full lips curving in the beginnings of a smile as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, careful not to drip blood on her, ‘I think it’s going to be ok…’

………………………………………………….

Charlie looked at herself in the mirror, not quite recognising the young, clean, gorgeous woman standing there in a calf length, low cut, sleeveless crimson dress, the silky fabric clinging to her curves like a second skin, the dark blond waves of her hair swept in a heavy fall over one bare shoulder, high, red pumps completing the outfit… ‘I love this dress, Nora.’

President Blanchard’s household in Austin had been very welcoming, someone finding them rooms in one of the best hotels in town and after hot baths, they’d found a selection of dresses, shoes, makeup and other things waiting for them to choose from for the ball…

Nora looked over from where she was sitting in front of her own mirror, ‘it looks fantastic on you, Charlie…’ She looked at her reflection, ‘I like mine too…’ the turquoise shot silk shift shimmered over her slim, taut figure, somehow picking up blue and red highlights in the shining dark hair piled in a messy up do, loose tendrils trailing around her ears, her neck and shoulders rising in graceful curves from the gathered bodice and cap sleeves, her breasts full, the valley between them a tempting shadow…

Charlie smiled… ‘We look pretty damn good all cleaned up, don’t we?’ she wriggled a little, ’the shoes take a little bit of getting used to though…’

Nora grinned back, ‘It’ll be worth it when the guys see us, Miles is gonna blow his mind…’ she stood up, smoothing the soft fabric down over her hips…

Charlie came over, taking the other woman in her arms in a hug, careful not to dislodge hair or makeup and for a long moment they stood together, Charlie’s eyes closed, just enjoying the scent, the warm, female curves of a friend she’d thought lost forever. She swallowed, ‘Nora, thank you so much…for saving him I mean, I don’t know what I would have done if he… if he…’ 

Nora hugged her closer, her skin smooth and fragrant; her voice warm, her breath gentle on Charlie’s cheek… ‘I saw how it was between the two of you back at the church’ she shrugged....’He really loves you, Charlie.’ She pulled back a little, ‘he’s still Sebastian Monroe, and he’s still a son of a bitch, but he really loves you and I think you love him - and that counts for a hell of a lot…’ She let go, gently, her lips curved…’besides, with you two occupied with each other,’ the smiled broadened and an eyebrow rose…‘I’ll have Miles all to myself.’

Charlie’s laugh rang out, ‘I knew it…’ then she sobered, ‘Miles and my mom aren’t together anymore, Nora, not for a while now, he spends most of his time with me and Bass…’

Nora nodded…’Yeah, he told me…’ she looked in the mirror again and smiled, ‘and I’m going to make the most of it.’

There was a hard knock at the door, and Miles’ voice came through the gap, muffled by the thick wood, ‘are you guys ready? We gotta go, they’ve got a carriage waiting…’

Charlie picked up the soft white wrap that went with her dress, went over and opened the door… 

Miles’ eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw her, ‘Holy crap, is that really you, kiddo?’ 

She laughed and punched his shoulder…’Yeah, and you don’t look so bad yourself,’ He did look good, his tall frame almost neat in a white shirt and dark pants and jacket, although somehow his bow tie had slipped, he’d missed a button on the shirt and he still had his sword belt on, but she didn’t think she’d ever seen him without it... Then his eyes slid past her and she knew the exact moment he saw Nora because his eyes went a soft brown and a smile softened the hard lines of his mouth… 

And then she forgot about both of them because Bass was just behind Miles and he looked so fucking amazing she had to hold herself back and remember she was dressed like a lady… 

He came closer, tall and beautiful in a suit very like Miles’ except that his was a dark blue and he actually looked like he was enjoying wearing it. His tie was straight, all of his buttons were neatly done up, his moustache and beard combed, his hair slicked back and his eyes, his eyes were so intensely, burning blue as he looked at her that she could feel them, like he was touching her, and then he was, his arms went around her, carefully, one of his hands stroking the golden waves of her hair… 

‘You look amazing, Charlotte…’

She leaned back so she could see his face, ‘Charlotte?’

He stepped back and offered her his arm…’tonight you look like a Charlotte’

She grinned, wicked…’it’s all Charlie underneath though…’

His eyes glinted, ‘Is that a promise?’

She patted his butt; it felt firm and tempting beneath her fingers then she pulled one of his hands down to her thigh…‘what do you think?’

He laughed as his fingers traced the shape of the thigh holster and knife resting against the skin of her leg under her dress…

………………………………………..

The carriage was comfortable, covered against the weather, although the rain had moved away again and the skies were mostly clear, the stars shining and the moon a bright golden circle high above.

Charlie looked out of the window as Bass played with a strand of her hair. Miles and Nora sat opposite, talking quietly, Nora’s head resting on Miles’ shoulder.

Austin was a beautiful city, the streets lit with gas lamps and filled with people celebrating the season. Occasional steam trams and buses passing them by but mostly there were horses, carriages or people walking… Christmas decorations winked and glowed on the house fronts and shops that they passed and the sound of bells came from somewhere up ahead…

Charlie thought about Christmases in Wisconsin, they’d had snow there, her dad would bring in a tree to decorate and Maggie would cook something special… Texas was warmer, no snow although there was a bite to the air. But all around them were people, life returning to something near peaceful now that the Patriots were (mostly) on the run. There was time to enjoy living a little.

She leaned back against Bass and he dropped a kiss on her lips, his were warm and sweet, the soft hairs of his scruff tickling her cheek, his tongue gently playing with hers and she closed her eyes, returning the kiss, a wave of gratitude that she was with him washing through her… grateful to be alive…

The driver pulled the horses to a stop outside a large building and got down, opening the door for them,  
‘Here we are, folks, welcome to the Presidential palace of the Sovereign Nation of Texas…’

………………………………………..

Inside there were more decorations, more gorgeously dressed people smiling, the ballroom set up like a fairytale palace with tables laden with food and huge vases of winter blossoms… And on the stage an orchestra played music that made Charlie want to dance, even in the high shoes…

President Blanchard met them, his eyes glinting appreciatively when he saw Charlie and Nora, although he was obviously on his best behaviour with his wife standing next to him, voluptuous in a gold and cream dress that made the lady look like a Christmas bauble according to Bass, whose whispered comment had Charlie holding back a giggle… Mrs Drusilla Blanchard was very nice though, with a wide, friendly smile, and kind eyes…

The President made a speech about courage and valour above and beyond the call of duty, and handed out medals and honours to a number of people, including Bass and Miles, although when their names were mentioned there was a kind of hush around the room, before wild and almost hysterical applause amid the blinding flashes of what seemed like hundreds of cameras as the press went wild too… 

They discovered that the two Generals were still regarded with considerable awe edging into occasional terror and Charlie felt her lips curling in a wide and disbelieving grin as person after person asked her in hushed whispers what ‘they’ were really like… So, what she didn’t know she made up, regardless of Miles raised eyebrows or Bass’ look of stunned, laughing outrage…in fact she made up so many outlandish stories about the exploits of Generals Matheson and Monroe that she was surprised no one challenged her, instead, her wild tales were met with big eyes and gasps of admiration and before long, she and Nora found themselves being pushed and jostled as Bass and Miles were surrounded by a growing circle of men and women wanting to talk about campaigns, battles and stories, and a steady stream of women (and men) hoping to get close to one or both of the heroes of the day. It was kind of exhilarating but also exhausting…

Then, suddenly, there was a bugle call and almost by magic everyone seemed to find a seat at the tables as dinner was served.

Bass breathed out a sigh of relief as they sat, nodding politely and smiling to the other people on their table, ’I’d forgotten what that was like,’ he shook his head, ‘and to think I used to live like this all the time’ 

Miles pulled at his tie to loosen it a little more, his voice wry ‘there was more than one reason why I spent most of my time with the troops, Bass’

Nora chuckled and attacked her steak, ‘I wouldn’t want to do it all the time’ she shrugged, ’but you gotta admit the food’s great…’ 

Charlie was rubbing her thigh against Bass’ under the table. She was finding it harder and harder to concentrate on the food, or the music or other people when he was sitting so close to her, his arm brushing against hers, his broad shoulders in their expensive fabric covering, so tantalizingly near her cheek.

He noticed… of course he did, moving a little closer to her, his body a heated temptation next to hers, one of his hands caressing her back, his face close to hers, his scruff brushing her cheek…

She felt overwhelmed, and it was suddenly too crowded, too noisy; she wanted the night air and Bass to herself…

He noticed that too, ‘Do you want to go outside for a while, Charlie?’ He put his fork down, drained his glass of wine and stood up…

She nodded, grateful, and stood, taking his arm and following as he threaded his way through the crowded room, Bass nodding and smiling as people greeted them, politely brushing off invitations to join various parties, promising later meetings, doing it all so effortlessly, so easily that she would never have believed he wasn’t enjoying himself if she hadn’t been able to feel the tension in his arm, the tendons like steel cords, the muscles hard, tight…

Then they were going through a pair of the French doors that led to the wide, concrete balcony that ran the length of the building, and it was suddenly quiet, calm… 

Bass walked her past the ballroom to a shadowy corner, away from the lights from the ballroom and hidden from view and swung her into his arms, his lips joining hers in a hard, deep, searing kiss that had them both panting, bodies pressed so close together that Charlie felt her nipples tighten into little nubs on the fabric of his shirt, felt his cock, a hard ridge of flesh against her belly… 

She felt decadent, sensual in her high shoes and silken dress, her body leaning on his, his hands raking over her shoulders, her back, then one hand snaking up into her hair while the other followed the line of her back down to her ass, his fingers spreading over her ass cheek, digging into the fabric over the springy flesh, pulling her harder against him…

‘I don’t have anything on under this dress, Bass…’ she whispered against his lips, laughing as he went totally still for a charged moment…

Then he flipped her round so she was backed up against the wall, going down to his knees in front of her, his hands stroking down over her hips, her thighs, down to the hem of her dress, his eyes laughing up at hers, their blue depths somehow gathering all the available light until they were like blue lamps, shining up at her… ‘Except your knife…’

She laughed, ‘except my knife…’ then she gasped, her breath coming in hoarse pants as his hands circled her thighs, slowly stroking up the smooth flesh towards her waiting, aching core, his fingers drawing the hem of her dress up with them.

He licked his lips, his tongue flicking out, his lips open in anticipation as more and more of her thighs were exposed to his view and he leaned forward, pressing kisses to the sensitive skin on the inside of each knee…

She laughed again, her hands on his shoulders keeping her upright as ripples and waves of sweet, molten sensation rocketed up from his lips, his scruff on her skin, setting her belly, her clit, her nipples on fire and her head swimming…

He chuckled, the vibrations of that against her skin almost making her knees buckle… then licked and kissed his way higher, his hands bunching the fabric of her dress almost at her waist now, the moist, dark, springy curls between her legs exposed to his view, his breath warm and cool at the same time as he blew gently, the pink tip of her clit and the sensitive petals of her inner lips pulsing as the air hit them…

She watched, fascinated, the sight turning her on almost as much as the sensation as he delicately licked her, his thumbs parting her pussy lips, giving his lips and tongue access to her inner lips, her clit, her core, his tongue plunging in, his teeth gently grazing her flesh, his lips caressing her, suckling at her clit while his tongue did magic things to her core…

Her head fell back, helpless, her back braced against the wall, her knees buckled against his shoulders as he grazed on her, feasted on her… His fingers stretching round her hips to find the soft, smooth, pliant skin of her ass, pulling her cheeks apart as he sought deeper access to her, plunging harder, faster, sucking harder… Charlie felt the orgasm building, her belly tight, her clit pulsing as he held her dress up with one hand, the fingers of the other sliding between her legs, one then two fingers slipping into her core, another playing with the little pucker behind, her slippery juices making entrance there easy, the nerve endings there taking her to new levels of feeling… his lips and tongue still feasting on her clit, every part of her dancing in time…

Then the world shuddered on its axis and she felt herself falling apart around him, the sky full of streaking stars, the moon shaking, and she slid her hands into the curls on his scalp, holding him right where he was because it was…just…magic… 

Then as her breath started to come back, he stood up, his body rising above hers like a delicious wave of male muscle and warmth, his eyes bright in the moonlight and the light of nearby lamps, his lips and chin wet, his tongue darting out, collecting her taste, her juices… 

She felt the hard ridge of his cock, let loose from his pants and rising against her hip and she felt his lips on hers, warm, firm and tasting of her, then, his hands on her hips, turning her round to face the wall, one hand reaching down to flip her skirt up, then both hands stroking her bare ass, then his lips there as he bent, biting softly, sending more sensations rippling through her… His hands going round to find her belly, stroking up to her breasts, along her arms, making sure her hands were braced on the wall, his body behind her a hard, hot bulk, the thick, hard, ridge of his cock feeling huge between her legs, parting her lips, her legs, the tip sliding over her clit…

She panted in anticipation, thrusting her ass back and as high as she could, wanting him inside so, so, fucking much that it was an ache and a need and a desperate want that sent her soaring…

Then, he reached down a hand, pulling back a little, his cock sliding back through her cleft, finding her ready, waiting, wanting him…

And then, he was there at last, inside, plunging in and filling her, so…fucking…full…and she let out a cry of triumph, of exhilaration, his breath coming hard and fast, his body all around her, in her, behind her, everywhere, thrusting her again and again against the cool, dry surface of the wall, her fingers spread against the moonlit white, the sky shattering into rainbowed drops of starlight and moonlight and lamplight, all mixed with the sound of flesh meeting flesh, breath meeting breath…

…………………………………….

Afterwards, they somehow found a bench seat a little way along the balcony, collapsing onto it in a pile of arms, legs and laughter, Charlie on Bass’ lap to save her dress, her hair lying in golden tangles over his shoulders, his hands round her waist as they lay there getting their breath back…

She looked down at herself, her dress was creased and mussed, even in the dim light outside and she knew that any trace of the make up Nora had helped her put on had to be gone...

‘You look beautiful, Charlie…’

He’d read her mind again…’everyone’ll know what we’ve been doing…’

He pulled one of her hands to his lips, sucking her fingertips one after the other…‘do you care?’

Little shivers ran up her arms from his lips…’Not really…’ she turned to look at him, ‘but I’d rather be somewhere with you’

He laughed softly, ‘we can go back to the hotel if you want, Blanchard won’t mind’

‘What about Miles and Nora?’

He laughed again, ‘I think it’s probably a safe bet that Nora’s taken Miles home already’

As they crept down the back stairs, taking the old servants passage out of the building, the few staff they met along the way smiled indulgently and wished them well, and when they got closer to the exit, Charlie saw two very familiar figures a little way ahead of them, Nora held close to Miles’ side, his arm tight around her waist, and as the two of them slipped out of the door into the street, Nora turned and grinned at Charlie, one eye closing in a wink…

Charlie smiled back, sighing happily and leaning back against the strong, beautiful man behind her, ’Happy Christmas, Bass…’

He pulled her close, kissing her ear, ‘Happy new year, Charlie…’

And somewhere, the bells were ringing out for Christmas day…

…………………………………….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Well, there it is, I hope you liked it Romeokijai ☺ hoping you had a wonderful, joyful Christmas and wishing you and everyone, the very, very best for the new year… 
> 
> I’ve so enjoyed writing this story, so thank you for some lovely prompts!! Cheers, Magpie xxx

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Hi and I hope you’re enjoying it so far…Christmas day was racing towards me and I really wanted to have this at least up and started by then, so, there’ll be a couple of other parts to this, coming as soon as I can get them done ☺ So, again, wishing you a wonderful, Charloe Christmas!! And a big hi and thank you to the lovely Captains of the GSC – and all the writers and readers who sail on her… xx Magpie


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